Golden era: On the edge of blue heaven

19 July 2016 - 10:16 By Rea Khoabane

Conceptual artist and painter Lina Viktor, 29, hosted a series of talk sessions in Johannesburg and Cape Town last week titled ''TRANSCENDENCE //On Art as Agency" in collaboration with African culture collective Noirwave. Viktor was born and raised in London to Liberian parents and is now based in New York. She is proud of the response her work has received internationally."I've found that as I travel there's more support outside of New York for my work. Our stories as Africans stretch back millennia - not centuries - and we should be the ones to tell them."Viktor was in conversation with Noirwave creative director Rharha Nembhard, the editor of the M&G Friday supplement Milisuthando Bongela and culture writer Stefanie Janson.GEMINI: Lina Viktor's dual vision''Transcendence," she says, ''is the understanding of our place as human beings within the universe - in our star systems, planets, constellations, galaxies and the effect they have on us here on earth."Viktor describes her work as mythical, existing within the blurred lines of the real and the imaged.SYMMETRY: Lina Viktor self-portrait''I'm moved by cosmological stories that exist in many ancient and modern African cultures - from the ancient Egyptians, to the Dogon of Mali, west Africa and many people in between," she says. "My latest work stresses the seamless nature of our existence within this elemental universe - the oneness of it all."She uses intense colours like blue, white and gold in her work."With these I create a living sculpture using photography, performance work and installation."Majorelle blue, or Yves Klein blue, is like an abyss. It's a void, a colour you dive into and that beckons and consumes you when you see it and when you're surrounded by it."Black and white are values - they're extremes of the colour spectrum, and gold was once regarded as a gateway metal between worlds. It spoke to our spiritual force and rank - akin to the sun on earth."Her self-portraits transform her body into art and connect her with the elements .''I was drawn to art as a means of freedom of expression," she says.Besides South Africa Viktor wants to take her work to Ghana, Nigeria and other parts of Africa. 'It's time to exhibit outside America, and the doors are flying open."She's created her own mythology and recently created the cover for musician and Noirwave co-founder Petite Noir's debut album La Vie est Belle/Life is Beautiful.Lina Viktor will be in Cape Town in November for an exhibition at Gallery Momo. Her first public installation opens in March next year in New York City...

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.